Friend: Lifeguard told about missing Mass. woman

FALL RIVER, Mass. -- A friend of a Massachusetts woman whose body was found in a public swimming pool says a lifeguard was told Sunday that she was missing but that the pool staff "never did anything."

Officials are investigating the possibility that Marie Joseph's body was at the bottom of the pool for more than two days without anyone noticing.

Veronica Reis said Thursday that Joseph and a friend's 9-year-old relative went into the Fall River pool from a slide. She says the boy noticed the 36-year-old didn't come back up after they splashed into the pool.

The 21-year-old Reis says the boy told a lifeguard, and the lifeguard said he was going to do a pool check but never did.

Candela Matta, who was at the pool with Joseph, says friends initially thought she simply had left.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)